Is the Sony Open a Must Win for Michelle Wie?

In a recent article over at ESPN.com Ron Sirak talks about the 2007 Sony Open and Michelle Wie’s “final exam”.

He brings up some good points about her previous experiences playing on the PGA tour and in other men’s events and discusses the path that the Wie’s have chosen. Was it the right one? Is it the media that’s slowing pulling Michelle Wie down?

Well, I’m not so sure the media is doing anything to pull Michelle Wie down as is evident by the spattering of commenter’s who seem to take certain articles written on the Michelle Wie FAN blog personal. There is still a die hard following that want to see her succeed as soon as possible.

But Sirak does bring up the point that what if the teen golf sensation was to pull out of men’s tournaments for a few years. Could she even win over the media then? At first, definitely not. I agree with the article that if she pulls out of men’s tournaments, as most are suggesting Michelle Wie do, she’ll be torn down in the media as choosing the wrong path and quiting on her goals.

That kind of media wind storm could be the absolute wrong thing for her game right now. Yes we’d like to think of her as ultra strong and able to pull through the comments that would ensue but we must be realistic too. She has a chance to crash and burn. But that’s what comebacks are for.

Now if Michelle makes the cut at this years 2007 Sony Open, it may put all those naysayers to rest and she can go on her path of playing men’s and women’s tournaments. The media will build her up, then tear her down and all will be right with the world.

To answer the title of this post, “Is the Sony Open a Must Win for Michelle Wie?” I think yes, in the short term. She needs to enter the 2007 season on a high note so that she doesn’t go into every single tournament answering a hundred and one questions about why other players think she shouldn’t be in the men’s tournaments, even when she’s playing an LPGA event.

But if she doesn’t, she can always go off to standford for a while and use that to get out of four years of tournaments without the press taking her down.

We’ll all know the outcome by Friday night. Good luck Michelle.